How to Pray (and how not to!)

Chapter 18, verse 9. Praise the Lord. I say that

because last night I dreamed that I got up here

to preach and I could not remember a single passage

in the whole Bible. I couldn't come up with nothing.

I didn't know what book I was in, what chapter

I was in. I couldn't find it. I couldn't think

of nothing. I couldn't think of... I couldn't

think of nothing. I could not think of a single

word of God to just speak. And I was like, well,

maybe I made a note about what I was going to

preach on. I started looking, and I couldn't

find a note anywhere, and it was just horrible.

That dream happens a lot, and praise the Lord,

it hadn't come true yet, but if it does, that's

going to be a scary day. But we're going to be

in Luke chapter 18, verse 9. Luke chapter 18,

Luke 18:9 Luke 18:9

verse 9. I love this passage. I know I've preached

on it several times throughout the years. We're

going to talk about it for just a moment this

morning. This is one of the parables of Jesus.

Jesus told lots of parables. They were short,

simple stories that usually had some spiritual

connection, something that was easy for his hearers

to relate to, that they could connect to. It

was a way to make his hearers maybe think about

things in a different way and maybe even shed

light on their own sins. Now, we need that same

type of thing to go on in our life because what

is so easy for me, and maybe for you too, it

is so easy for us to see everybody else's problems.

It's so easy for us to figure out how to solve

everybody else's problems. And it is. Boy, we

see people's problems on Facebook. We see them

on the news. We see other people's families.

And we say, well, what they ought to do. And

then we proceed to say what they ought to do.

And what's going to fix it? I can fix it. But

yet, how many times is there problems in our

own life, in our own families? And you know what?

The people whose problems you can fix. Or looking

at your problems and saying, I can fix his problem.

What we all need to do is just get together with

a cup of hot chocolate, maybe, and you can tell

me how to fix my problems, and I'll tell you

how to fix yours, and we can all be happy. But

it's not that easy. It's not that easy. And a

lot of times, the real problem is this, is that

we have sin and we have problems in our life,

and we don't see them at all. And that's what

Jesus was addressing here. It represented a group

of people that, in his eyes, he was doing great.

He was doing great. He had nothing to worry about.

He was doing so much better than the rest of

the lowlifes that he just was praising God and

how good he was doing. And maybe that's us sometimes.

Maybe we don't want to admit it if we know it.

Maybe we don't know it. But that's the beauty

of God's Word. That's the beauty of Jesus. And

that's the beauty of these parables. We need

to pause and we need to think in these stories

that we see and in these parables we see, who

am I in this story? We always want to be the

good guy, but maybe the fact of the matter is

we aren't the good guy. Maybe we're the bad guy.

And when we realize we're the bad guy, it makes

the good guy, Jesus, look even better. So let's

read through these scriptures. We'll talk for

a second and then we'll get started. We'll pray

after we read through them. Luke chapter 18,

Luke 18:9

verse 9. He also told this parable to some who

trusted in themselves, that they were righteous

and looked down on everyone else. Two men went

up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee

and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took

his stand and was praying like this, God, I thank

you that I am not like other people. greedy,

unrighteous adulterers, or even like this tax

collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth

of everything I get. But the tax collector, standing

far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven,

but kept striking his chest and saying, God,

turn your wrath from me, a sinner. I tell you,

This one went down to his house justified rather

than the other. Because everyone who exalts himself

will be humbled. The one who humbles himself

will be exalted. Let's pray. Father God, we come

to you now. We thank you for your good word.

I pray, God, that you would just help us to pay

attention to our own life. That we don't fall

into this trap that this Pharisee fell into,

dear Lord. That we don't... Think too highly

of ourselves that we just think that we have

made it, dear Lord. And we are doing so good.

And we are so much better than others, God. We

don't want to have that heart of pride within

us. And maybe we do. And if we do, dear Lord,

I pray that you would show that to us. I pray,

God, today that we would lay down our pride at

the foot of the cross. That we would not pretend

to be something that we're not. but that we would

acknowledge that we are simply sinners, unworthy

of your grace, unworthy of your mercy. But dear

Lord, we seek you and we need those things because

God, we cannot make it through life without them.

So I pray today, dear Lord, if we came into this

place with a proud spirit, that your Holy Spirit

would speak to us through these words, that we

would humble ourselves before you today. And

I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. A short

and simple story. Two men in this story. A Pharisee

who was self -righteous and a tax collector.

Now, really, Jesus is signaling out two groups

of people here. He's signaling out the religious

self -righteous person, the one who thinks, the

one who is declared of themselves, I am... righteous.

I am holy. Now, we can declare of ourselves anything

we want, and people do that today. People will

declare that they are all kind of things, but

it is what God declares us as that makes the

difference. And so here's one person that declares

himself as a self -righteous and godly man. And

then we have the tax collector, and the tax collector

here represents the sinners. The people who just

sin so greatly that are looked down upon as the

worst of the worst. Tax collectors were not well

respected, not so unlike the IRS today. If you

ever got a letter in the mail from the IRS, you

see that envelope and your heart just sinks instantly

because there's a good chance that it ain't going

to be a check in there. It's going to be a piece

of paper saying that they have found an error

in your taxes. from five years ago, and you're

going to owe some money. And I'm thinking, well,

it seems like five years. If we can make it to

seven, maybe you could just forget that debt.

But that's the way it is. You don't like to see

the tax man. Well, tax collectors were frowned

upon because they oftentimes didn't do right.

They oftentimes took more. than what was necessary,

and they just would keep the extra. As long as

they paid to Rome what was due Rome, Rome didn't

care how they got the money or what they did

with the excess. So they would always get more

than what they needed. They would give Rome what

was Rome, give the Caesar what was Caesar's,

and the tax collectors would stuff their pockets

with the rest. And so you can understand how

tax collectors were not... really looked on in

a good light in this society. But the tax collector

here is symbolic of sinful people who are looked

down upon because of their lifestyle. And so

Jesus says there's two people. There's a self

-righteous, religious, and godly man, and there

is just this horrible, sinful man. And the scene

is simple. They both are headed up to the temple.

To pray. Praying is a good thing. Praying is

something that everyone should do. But what we

need to make sure we do is pray with the right

heart. And that's what we're going to see in

this story. That's what we just read. One of

these men prayed with the right heart. The other

one did not pray with the right heart. So the

godly man who declared himself righteous goes

into the temple as big as you please. He seems

to be the type who would just strut right to

the front row. He seems to be the type that would

say long prayers just for show. He seems to be

the type that would love for you to see him in

the marketplace and say, oh, brother so -and

-so, you are so godly. And the New Testament

talks about these very people. Those who like

the big greetings. Those who like to sit on the

front for everybody to see. The kind that would

come up here and he'd sit right here beside me

so y 'all could see him while I was preaching

because he is so holy. And boy, he would look

good and he would long for me to call on him

to pray and he would pray for 15 minutes and

y 'all would be saying, he needs to hurry up,

I'm ready to go. But he would think he was so

old, boy, he'd get all into it. I bet he'd be

raising his hands. And he would just be, he would

think he was really something special. And this

man, he comes strutting up into the temple and

he does not even think twice. And he begins to

pray to God. And he says, God, I thank you that

I am so good. That I am not like sinful people.

that I'm not greedy, that I'm not an adulterer.

God, I am so good. And I am so good, God, I thank

you, that I ain't like the rest of these sinners.

That's what he said. He said, God, and I thank

you that I am so good that I ain't like this

old tax collector who is a rotten and dirty and

thieving scoundrel. God, I thank you that I am

so good and so much better than everybody else.

Now, do we ever pray that way in our life? Maybe

not quite so boldly, but maybe there are hints

of that kind of heart and that kind of pride

in our prayer life. Maybe not. Maybe we show

our disgust with people in a little different

way. Maybe we don't pray that way, but maybe

we're still a little passive -aggressive toward

people. Maybe we don't say these words to God.

Maybe we just post them on Facebook. That's what

people do, right? You'll see that on Facebook.

You'll see somebody. They'll get that phone out.

And they know that the whole world is going to

see this. And they'll start. They'll say, I am

so glad I am not like some people who stab you

in the back and do you wrong and talk about you.

I am so glad that I'm not like them people. Y

'all need to pray for people like that. And you

know what people that type that want you to do.

They want you to say, oh, what happened? See,

you can say, oh, I'm just glad I'm not liking

people. And they're saying that. They're saying

that because what they're saying is somebody

has done me wrong and I'm better than them and

I want everybody to know, but I ain't going to

say no names because y 'all all know who I'm

talking about anyway. but it's going to be okay

because at the end I said we need to pray for

them. So that makes it okay. And so what I want

to respond when I see that is, I am so glad I'm

not like people who air their dirty laundry on

Facebook just to get attention. That's what I

want to say. And so maybe in some way we do that

in our lives in a passive -aggressive way, maybe

not in our prayer lives. But maybe we have a

way of calling out other people who have done

us wrong when maybe, just maybe, we're not as

good as we think we are. Maybe we've done somebody

else wrong, and maybe they can get on Facebook

and post the same thing about us. Maybe we pretend.

Boy, we post our picture on Facebook. We're in

front of the church with our whole family, and

we're thanking God about how good he is. And

all the while, behind closed doors, behind that

picture, there are things that are going on in

our house and our lives that are rotten as can

be. But boy, we look good on the outside for

everybody to see. And that's where this guy was

at. Boy, he looked good on the outside. If you

had had to pick him out of the lineup and they

said, can you pick out the righteous person from

this lineup? You'd have looked at this guy and

you'd have said, that's him right there. I can

see the way he's standing. I can see the way

he's talking. I can tell that's the righteous

person. And he had declared himself righteous

and so much so that he declared it before God

how good he was. God, I thank you that I am so

good and I am not like this guy. And that is

not how you pray. That is not how you pray. God,

I pray for so -and -so that you'd help them.

That ain't wrong to pray for people. Y 'all ever

heard a sermon before? And you say, boy, I hope

so -and -so's listening to that today. So -and

-so needs to hear that. Well, maybe they do.

You know who else might need to hear it? You.

We spend a lot of time sometimes, we'll take

a sermon that's coming in at us and we're shoveling

it over. Oh, I'm going to shovel over to him.

I'm going to shovel that over to him. The preacher

says something, you look over at your wife or

your husband and you say, no. But maybe instead

of shoveling everything that God's sending our

way, maybe we need to start raking through some

of it and seeing what God's got in his word for

us that we can grow from, that we can learn from,

that God can speak to us from. But we become

so proud. We don't see how God's word applies

to us. How it affects us. Because, oh God, we're

doing so good. And we're praying for how God's

word can affect other people. And we need to

be praying about, God, how can your word affect

me? That's not how to pray. We pray for other

people. Praise God. We're supposed to pray for

other people. You know what Jesus says? He says,

take the log out of your own eye before you try

to take the speck out of your brother's. By all

means, help your brother out. You see flaws in

his life. Praise God that you can see that and

you can notice that. And in love, you can try

to help that brother or sister out. But don't

fail to get the log out of your own eye. Don't

fail to check your own heart and your own life

before you try to restore a brother or sister

in Christ. But this man didn't care about any

of that. This man didn't care about God. He would

have said he did. But he didn't care nothing

about God. At least not in the way that God wanted

him to. He gets up there. He's got his chest

out. He's praying. Probably loud where everybody

can hear him. He's saying, God, I'm glad that

I'm so good and I'm not so bad like this guy.

And that is not how to pray. And then you have

the old sinner. We need to pay attention to the

old sinner because that's us. If you came in

today, Is that self -declared a righteous person?

Then you need to check yourself right now. You

need to repent and you need to pay attention

to the old sinner. Because the old sinner knew

who he was. He knew that he was an old rotten

tax collector. He knew that he had done great

sins. He knew that he just was not worth anything

on his own. He knew that God was good. He also

knew that God was a just God, so much so that

he feared God. He wouldn't even come close. The

tax collector, I mean, the Pharisee was standing

front and center and the tax collector said he

wouldn't even come close. He was keeping his

distance. And where one man was poking his chest

out before God, the other man was pounding his

chest. And he came before God saying, God, I

am so rotten. I have done things that I don't

want to do. I've said things that I don't want

to say. I've acted in a way that I don't want

to act. God, I know you are good. I know you

are just. And God, I am afraid to even stand

in your presence now. God, I desire your mercy.

Would you be merciful to me, God? And that is

how we pray. We talked just a couple of weeks

ago about Paul. Paul was one of those self -declared

righteous men of God. And then what happened?

He encountered Jesus Christ. And then what did

Paul say later in his life? He said, Jesus Christ

came to save sinners of whom I am the worst,

of whom I am the chief. That is the heart of

a humble man. That is the heart of a humble man.

Jesus Christ, a humble Savior. Jesus Christ was

born in a manger. Jesus Christ lived a normal

and simple life. Jesus Christ was a humble man.

Followers of Jesus Christ are to be humble people.

So who are we today? Are we the one who is aware

of our sin and aware of how much we need Jesus

Christ, aware of how much we need the grace of

God even though we don't deserve the grace of

God? Are we those today who come in here with

a heart that is desperate to repent of our sin

and to seek God? Or do we come in here and say,

hey, I'm doing pretty good. I've been to church

every day for the last month. I say long prayers.

I'm not like him or I'm not like her. Praise

God I'm not like them. I give plenty of money

so therefore I'm alright. There are a lot of

people that have that attitude. This man was

one of them. But that's not the attitude that

a Christian should have. And that's not the attitude

that's going to save our soul. Because it's that

attitude that is full of pride. And pride comes

before a fall. But Jesus tells us in this parable

that there is a better way. And it is the way.

of humility. And Jesus says, after telling this

story, he says, only one of these men went away

righteous. Only one of these men were justified.

And Jesus says, it was the sinner. It was the

sinner who came humbly pounding his chest, repenting

of his sins, crying out to God. It was the sinner.

Who left justified. You know what justified means?

It means declared righteous by God. The Pharisee

declared himself righteous. That ain't worth

anything. You can declare yourself righteous

all day. I can declare you righteous all day.

But that don't count for nothing. Only if we

have been declared righteous by God. God, only

if we have been declared righteous because we

are covered with the precious blood of Jesus

Christ, only then are we righteous. Jesus said,

one man went away justified, and it was the one

who humbled himself before God. Which one are

you today? Have you been living in the pride

of your sin? Maybe today is the day that you

need to repent. That you need to seek Jesus Christ.

That you need to lay down your pride. And you

need to humbly ask God to forgive you. Fear of

the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This man

feared the Lord and humbled himself before him.

What about you today? Let's pray. God, we thank

you for your good word. I pray, God, that you

would help us not to be those with a heart of

pride, that we don't declare ourselves righteous,

dear Lord, that we don't boast in ourselves.

God, we do thank you. We do thank you for being

good. We do thank you for blessing us, dear Lord.

We do pray for others who struggle with sin,

dear Lord. Those things in and of themselves

are not bad, dear Lord. We do want to pray to

you. We do want to praise you. We do want to

give back to you what is yours. But God, we never

want to be guilty of doing that with a heart

of pride. So God, I pray that if we have any

of that pride in our life today, that you would

help us to repent of that. God, I pray that if

we have any struggles or difficulties with other

people in the world, That we wouldn't air our

dirty laundry in such a way that tries to make

us look better and get other people down, dear

Lord. God, I pray that if there are broken relationships,

that by your help and by your guidance, dear

Lord, we would approach those people that we

struggle with, that you would restore those relationships.

But God, the real relationship that we need to

make sure that is restored today is our relationship

with you, God. That we can't come before you

today, dear Lord, thinking that we are able to

do anything of our own. But God, we have to humble

ourselves today knowing that there is nothing

we can do to earn your grace but to trust in

the fact that Jesus Christ gave it freely. So

God, I pray that if there is sin and that there

is pride, whatever it may be in our heart, that

we would just repent of that today. That whatever

we brought into this place, that we would humble

ourselves before you this morning. That we would

be those who call out to you just like this old

sinner in the story, dear Lord. This is a room

full of sinners right here in need of your grace.

And I pray, God, that we would humble ourselves

before you today. And I ask these things in Jesus'

name. Amen.